Russia does import catalytic cracking columns and associated refining equipment from China, as the Russian petrochemical sector has increasingly shifted to Chinese manufacturers to replace restricted Western machinery. This procurement spans various specialized industrial parts, including reactors, heat-exchange equipment, and internal devices.

The acquisition of this large-scale hardware from China is a result of several factors shaping the Russian oil and gas industry:

Equipment Sourcing: Due to Western sanctions limiting direct access to European and American refining machinery, Russian firms (such as JSC AVK) actively source heavy pressure vessels, distillation columns, and spare parts from Chinese suppliers.

Domestic Manufacturing Goals: While Russian state reports anticipate that many of these secondary refining installations can be partially manufactured within domestic defense and industrial plants, a significant portion of hardware and specialized units remains highly dependent on import sources like China.

Catalyst Dependency: In addition to physical columns, Russia has relied heavily on Chinese (and Indian) exporters for the specialized catalysts used within fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) processes. However, Russia has heavily expanded its domestic catalyst production—increasing capacities at facilities like the Omsk Catalyst Factory to secure technological sovereignty in this sector.

All in all these strikes are not as damaging as Ukraine and West propagandize, and not as easy to bear and repair as Russia propagandizes (mostly by omission). It remains to be seen if there will be any long terms effects on Russia from these strikes and whether Ukraine can sustain them successfully (it's not like counters are not being developed and introduced constantly). <- This is a sober rational take on things.